NEW BEDFORD -- Commercial fishermen throughout the nation should someday see the kind of survival training that New Bedford, the Coast Guard and the industry developed this year in response to the loss last December of the scalloper Northern Edge.
The Coast Guard's national Commercial Fishing Industry Vessel Safety Advisory Committee voted yesterday to document what is being done here and make it official recommended policy for other fishing ports trying to reduce casualties at sea.
Committee member Leland C. Stanford of New Jersey, whose firm manufactures safety gear, made the motion. He told The Standard-Times, "When a crisis occurs, people come together. To me that's the spirit of America. We're going to call this the New Bedford Project."
Since it was brought up as new business, the committee will pick up discussion at its next session in 2006; in the meantime, Coast Guard staff will look at a framework for a national effort, said retired Coast Guard Capt. Michael Rosecrans, the newly appointed chief of the Fishing Vessel Safety Division of the Coast Guard.
The advisory panel met for two days in New Bedford and issued a series of proposals to tighten fishing vessel stability standards.
But while finishing up its business on modified and unsafe vessels, attention turned to the unique arrangement between local government, the fishing industry, insurers, equipment manufacturers and the Coast Guard to give survival training to everyone who goes to sea on a commercial fishing boat.
Rear Adm. T.H. Gilmour, the Coast Guard's assistant commandant for Marine Safety, Security and Environmental Protection, wrote a congratulatory letter to Mayor Frederick M. Kalisz Jr. In it, he said, "Your effort to engage stakeholders at all levels has led to significant, cost-effective improvements to the safety of the commercial fishing industry.
He applauded the city's Seafood Industry Advisory Task Force for coming up with an answer for the "broken trip" rules that now put safety over economics.
He added, "Your initiative to create a pilot program for no-cost enhanced training of fishermen in basic survival skills, jointly funded by the National Marine Fisheries Service and the City of New Bedford, has been presented to nearly 300 area fishermen with future classes planned at full enrollment. This training is essential to the ability of fishing vessel crews to service the potential hazards presented by their industry."
Safety Committee member Calvin Cuong Nguyen wondered aloud where other regions would find money for such training, which is costing a total of about $150,000 in New Bedford. The answer from Chairman James Herbert was that, in essence, other places would have to scrounge for their own grants and budget line items.
Coast Guard officials on Monday praised New Bedford profusely but expressed concern that the teamwork needed to be more formalized to ensure that it works consistently elsewhere. That is the process that the committee started yesterday.
Mr. Stanford emphasized how much good public relations, including the local newspaper (The Standard-Times) contributed to the New Bedford success. "Public relations played a big role in bringing together the New Bedford community," he said. "Public relations is a tricky matter, and the government isn't good at it," he said.
In its other recommendations, the advisory committee proposed that the Coast Guard publish informational pamphlets for vessel owners to inform them about the need to document changes they make to their boats and keep them certified as seaworthy after making changes or switching fishing methods.
Mr. Herbert said it was probable that eventually the Coast Guard will impose stability regulations on boats smaller than the current 79 feet minimum, possibly down to 50 feet, which would affect a large number of boats not now covered by the regulations.
The panel also recommended that a trained safety drill conductor sail on every trip with the crew he drills. The suggestion drew a complaint from North Carolina fisherman Jimmy Ruhle, who pointed out that some regions -- particularly the Southeast -- don't have enough trained people to do that, and that crew turnover is so high that the requirement might leave boats tied to the dock.
It was also suggested that vessel owners and captains could become certified in stability requirements online, receiving a certificate by taking a test via computer.
The panel was also updated on the introduction of personal digital assistants -- PDAs -- on Coast Guard vessels to streamline inspections and keep and exchange data and Coast Guard regulations.